The weblog of Irfan Yusuf, bush lawyer, humorist and award-winning author, once a small-c conservative but now politically left right out. His often irreverent take on things appears in some newspapers in Australia and New Zealand and online. His comic memoir "Once Were Radicals: My Years As A Teenage Islamo-fascist" was published in May 2009 and won the Iremonger Award for Public Issues Writing.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

BLOG: The Blair Bitching Project

In an effort to display (or rather, abuse) freedom of speech, a number of neo (I’d prefer to call them pseudo) Conservative bloggers have supported the publication of the 12 cartoons by various newspapers.

Tim Blair, who joined me in an interview with the Triple-J program “Hack” on the afternoon of Monday 6 February 2006, has published all the cartoons in full. He has given the usual spiel about freedom of speech.

At least I think he has. I really don’t know. Why? Because around 6 months ago, Mr Blair decided to show his devotion to freedom of speech by banning me from commenting on his blog.

And my crime? I was being way too critical of a certain non-Arab country in the Middle East whose name is not Iran. Or more specifically, I was being critical of Ariel Sharon.

Mr Blair’s devotion to freedom of speech did not, at the time, extend to freedom to criticise Israeli Likud Party leaders, a right enjoyed by Israelis themselves.

Mr Blair also did not like the fact that I was using genuine conservative argument to show that his positions on a number of issues bore greater resemblance to those of the East German Communist Party than to mainstream conservative thinking.

Of course, those agreeing with Mr Blair’s position have been free to leave anonymous comments on this blog. The fact that they may find themselves unable to use words with more than four letters doesn’t stop me from allowing them some free speech.

Mr Blair also apparently made references to the fact that Arab newspapers had posted anti-Semitic cartoons in their pages. Yes, I agree that they have done this. And this is wrong. But does that make it ok to follow their example?

Naturally, Mr Blair is an expert on racism. Which explains why he allows racist and xenophobic views to be expressed on his blog. You will find him citing Mark Steyn, Daniel Pipes and a range of other persons whose views about Muslims virtually mirror the sorts of views published in German newspapers about Jews during the 1920’s and 30’s. All sorts of strange and wonderful conspiracy theories are attributed to Muslims.

So for proponents of unbridled freedom of speech, all I can say is that with friends like Mr Blair, who needs enemies?

Still, Tim does provide people with food for thought. And he sounds like a nice bloke on radio. I’m sure if I met him in person, he’d turn out to be good for a laugh over a few bottles of (in my case) Maison. Then I could share with him a few Nasruddin Hoca stories. Or perhaps some of the Prophet Muhammad's jokes reported in Shama'il Tirmidhi and other classical works.

13 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I hardly think Tim Blair's (or rather Andrea Harris's) trigger-happy comments banning policy warrants mentioning in the same breath as the extra-judicial death warrants currently in place against the Danish newspaper and its cartoonists. You are free to say what you like about Blair on your own site, and indeed you just have. I'm reasonably confident that you haven't put your life in danger by doing so.

Does anyone care that you have been banned from someones blog particulary since you have a half dozen of your own blogs. It's amazing that you can feel so outraged by something so small. Only a massive ego-maniac with a spoilt child complex could take exception and feel the need to broadcast it. I am glad you are banned. Why don't you go to mummy like the spoilt, fat, loser, petulant, nerd child you are.

Your 'proffesional jealousy' towards a courageous and honest man like Tim Blair is most unbecoming. We are at what with suicidal killers and you are concerned only that you have been banned from a blog for anti-semitism and jew-baiting. Your priorities, your own selfish ego, is wrong.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten refused to publish drawing lampooning Jesus in 2003, by a Danish illustrator by the name of Christoffer Zieler. He made cartoons degrading the resurrection of Jesus.

"I don't think Jyllands-Posten's readers will enjoy the drawing. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an out cry. Therefore I will not use them.", (Guardian online, 06).

I've laid into the Israelis a number of times on numerous blog-sites, and found the same intolerance from a number of people on the Right. The Party Line does not allow even the mildest criticism of Israel, unless it is coming from Benjamin Netanyahu.

Support for Israel has become a secular religion for many "conservatives", to the point where it is almost impossible to argue for anything other than an Israel First foreign policy. The Israelis have been repeatedly caught stealing passports from their "allies", and yet anyone who speaks out against this is an "anti-semite".

Obviously, it is up to Blair what goes on his own website, as it is his property, but the Jacobin attitudes of his site administrator are seriously troubling.

We have the technology to put these cartoons on the moon and on Mars. It is better that the West spends its money on putting these cartoons in space rather than on helping all the starving muslims in Africa or getting the vote for Iraqis or Afghans. Muslims are completely unappreciative like bad spoilt children. Let them starve or kill each other.

OK, I now must bring this circus to an end. I won't be allowing any further irrelevant and hateful anonymous remarks onto this blog. If you wish to abuse me or anyone else, do so after displaying your identity. This is a serious blog. This is NOT a meeting place for the dominant faction of the NSW Young Liberals.